> Improve WHS by restoring consultation grants, says ACCI; > Safe Rates restoration endorsed by ATA; and > Anti-violence Bill to protect Federal employees.
> Three PCBUs charged with four category 2 breaches; > More WHS inspectors exposed to violence, this time in NSW; and > Guarding set-up breached Australian Standard and OHS Act.
A PCBU faces a fatality-related fine of up to $1.5 million, after a High Court majority found that Federal civil aviation laws operate within the framework of WHS legislation and other state, territory and Commonwealth laws.
A union official recently accused of hindering a WHS inspector in Queensland has been charged with doing the same thing in another jurisdiction, while two of his colleagues have been charged with misleadingly telling workers they were entitled, by WHS laws, to leave an "unsafe" site on full pay.
A WHS regulator has stressed that it is continuing to tackle imminent or serious safety risks under current "work bans", and progressing strategies to protect its inspectors from threats or assaults, after the Federal Government warned that these inspectors are living in fear of occupational violence.
Advances in weather forecasting technology mean employers can pre-plan work, months in advance, to ensure tasks match the climate and reduce the risks of working in heat, a heat stress expert has told a Safe Work Australia seminar.
> WHS tools for officers and psychological risks released; > Fuel controls urged after three workers burned in NSW; and > Gas, fume and dust alerts issued in wake of WA inspections.
> Further WHS alignment flagged for heavy vehicle laws; > Work cultures must support fatigue reporting, says aviation report; and > Twelve-hour-shift caps unlikely for rail safety workers.
An injured worker who received more than $90,000 worth of Comcare-funded massages has been denied the costs of further treatments, after a tribunal found a one-off operation was a reasonable alternative, notwithstanding the potentially "intensely painful" recovery process.
In this article, OHS Alert reviews all the major WHS and workers' comp developments from the final quarter of 2018, including the release of ISO 45001 as an Australian Standard, record-breaking safety fines and enforceable undertakings, and legislative changes.
